Band In a A Box

[Richards Guitars]

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Hi

I run www.rguitars.co.uk (http://www.rguitars.co.uk) and wanted to find a program that could help me write songes but also use as backing tracks / examples for tuition videos.

On first glance it looks great but not sure if I need to get additional sound files to improve it?

Does band in a box have everything you need - I am afraid i am total noice with this kind of software!

This week I have purchased a MAC as they seem to be made for music production but if anyone has any experience with band in a box I would be grateful for any help or advice?

Am I on the right path or is there something beftter?

[DaveL60]

(This answer doesn't include my having looked at your website) There are some other programs out there, particularly for i-devices; searching forums for Band in a Box will often turn up alternatives that people have identified. I've got BitB 2019 and the basic program is OK. Depending on what you're after you may find you'll be happier with at least a few add-ons focusing on styles that interest you. I honestly don't use it that much, as I've found the UI frustratingly complicated; it feels like new features kept getting glued on over time leading to a somewhat Frankenstein-ian mess. But YMMV.

[pough]

Welcome to KvR! Hopefully you can get some help related to Band in a Box, although I get the impression not many people here use it. Most of us use more general-purpose DAWs and if we want to do something similar to Band in a Box we would buy backing tracks from somewhere like Yurt Rock. So fortunately or unfortunately, there's more than one way to do it. Band in a Box will give you a leg up to start, but might in the end be somewhat limiting.

By the way, don't be surprised if this thread gets moved by a mod to the more appropriate Hosts forum.

[mixyguy2]

? BIAB is not a DAW.

I also second what Dave said; it has THE worst UI of any program or app I have ever used (and hasn't been improved in forever). And the final sound quality you'll get out of it are kind of OKish, not bad, but not great. But if you're not interested in writing songs all by yourself, yeah, it can help write them for you and you can sign your name to it. I only used it to sketch out ideas, which it was useful for. I also know people who perform live and found it very useful to provide a backing "band" when they played solo.

[Ah_Dziz]

I always got the impression that band in a box was for live performance. Of that's what you want it for I'm sure there are good resources explaining that use. If you're trying to learn how to produce your own music I'd recommend getting a DAW. Your Mac has garage band included which can do the job in a pinch. You could also get logic which is an amazing DAW with tons of great included tools as well as a massive amount of resources from the huge user base.

Good luck
JJ

[markmann]

BIAB can do a bunch of useful stuff. Once I create a set of chord changes, I can input them and then listen to many different stylistic approaches - folk, latin, pop, rock, etc. etc. Also, I have the high fidelity version which is 1.8 TB. Every once in a while, I will use an actual instrumental part from BIAB in my songs. You could certainly generate backing tracks to solo or practice with.

[onerob]

It's worth looking at Logic Pro as the latest version has drums, bass and keyboard 'session players' which can be made to play along to a chord track. It also comes with a large collection of pre-made loops that can be added in quite easily.

[CinningBao]

If you've just bought a mac, you will have Garageband installed and that is more than capable of creating backing tracks for you. Latest version of Logic/Garageband has a tonne of 'AI' instrument/players you can tweak to perfection as well, it may well even suggest chords!

That would be the quickest and cheapest (apart from the cost of the mac device!) way to start making music on your new Mac.

Then, if you desire more control or power, you can upgrade to Logic Pro ($200) and you won't have to relearn anything 'cause Garageband is basically a stripped-down version of Logic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II2ALb1qsyQ <- a video
https://pirate.com/en/blog/garageband-tutorial/ <- regular words-on-a-page

[mixyguy2]

? Apples and oranges. Logic and other DAWs are not the same kind of thing that BIAB is.